This week, Governor Bill Lee went on video after the election of Zohran Mamdani and told New York businesses to pack up and come to Tennessee because we are “open for business.” That pitch lands wrong for a couple of big reasons, and I want to say this the way folks actually talk around a Tennessee dinner table.
First, most Tennesseans are not begging for a new wave of people who want to change this place into the thing they just left. That is not a shot at everyone moving here. I have met hundreds of new neighbors from New York and California and Chicago, and beyond. Most are God-fearing patriots who got out while they still could. They bring a perspective that a lot of long-timers can miss. We can be a little like the proverbial frog in boiling water. We do not always notice the temperature rising. People who fled blue states see certain moves in our legislature, and they say “hold on, we saw this 15 or 20 years ago back home, and it did not end well.” They are right to sound the alarm. We cannot let Tennessee drift into soft tyranny while everyone shrugs.
But here is the hard truth no one in the Governor’s office seems willing to say out loud. What happened in New York did not just happen to New Yorkers. Voters tolerated leaders who pushed those policies. Citizens checked out of the public square and watched their culture slide. We all have a responsibility to those who govern us and to the communities where our kids grow up. So, no. We are not interested in importing failed politics along with moving trucks. Real conservatives left those places a long time ago. The message I hear across the state is pretty simple. Tennessee is closed. You lost your state. That is on you. We are not losing ours.
The second, and more alarming problem, is what the Governor slipped into that video with a smile. He said the Department of Economic and Community Development would help companies that relocate. Everyone in Tennessee knows what help means in that context. It means your tax dollars. It means subsidies and incentives with fancy names that mask the same old corporate welfare. It means we pay and they clap and cut a ribbon and call it growth.
Let us slow down and ask a basic question. Is growth the ultimate good? Is more always better? Is the quality of life for our families really measured by how many press releases say “record-setting?” Since 2019, the answer from the top has been yes. And they keep spending your money to prove it.
Remember the Ford deal in 2021. A billion dollars in Tennessee funds for Blue Oval City out near Memphis. Production has been pushed back again and again. Ford also snagged billions more from Washington. What does it say about an industry that survives only because taxpayers prop it up? And here is the part that still makes people mad. One week after the state wrote the check, the company was texting legislators during a special session and pushing to weaken protections for workers. They wanted mask rules tied to plants that did not even exist here yet. After we paid them. That is how quickly your rights and values got traded for a headline.
We have seen this pattern elsewhere. Oracle got the red carpet, too. Within days, they linked arms with activists in the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce and scolded state leaders over a bathroom bill meant to protect children. Another subsidized guest in our house telling the host how to raise our kids. Same song, different verse.
Do these projects create jobs? Sure some. But count the cost. Are we so insecure that we think prosperity only arrives on an out of state letterhead? Tennesseans can build businesses without bribing multinationals that do not share our convictions. If government insists on playing investor, why does the money never seem to land on Main Street? Where is the serious capital for Tennessee-owned small businesses that actually anchor our towns? Most of what we hear about small business is a feel-good tweet once a year telling folks to shop on a Saturday. That will not cut it.
So here is where I land. If you are coming here because you are done with the mess up north then come on, but leave your politics at the state line. Tennessee is already a great place to live and work. You do not need a check from Nashville to prove it. Build from the ground up like the rest of us. And once you get here, remember there is nowhere else to run after this. We will hold the line for liberty in this state. We will defend faith, family, and freedom because that is who we are. If those values offend you, then I am going to be plain. You are not welcome here.
Tennessee is worth guarding. Our kids are worth guarding. Our way of life is worth guarding. We have been blessed with something good, and we are not going to trade it away for a press conference and a promise.
Tennessee is not for sale.
This week, Governor Bill Lee went on video after the election of Zohran Mamdani and told New York businesses to pack up and come to Tennessee because we are “open for business.” That pitch lands wrong for a couple of big reasons, and I want to say this the way folks actually talk around a Tennessee dinner table.
First, most Tennesseans are not begging for a new wave of people who want to change this place into the thing they just left. That is not a shot at everyone moving here. I have met hundreds of new neighbors from New York and California and Chicago, and beyond. Most are God-fearing patriots who got out while they still could. They bring a perspective that a lot of long-timers can miss. We can be a little like the proverbial frog in boiling water. We do not always notice the temperature rising. People who fled blue states see certain moves in our legislature, and they say “hold on, we saw this 15 or 20 years ago back home, and it did not end well.” They are right to sound the alarm. We cannot let Tennessee drift into soft tyranny while everyone shrugs.
But here is the hard truth no one in the Governor’s office seems willing to say out loud. What happened in New York did not just happen to New Yorkers. Voters tolerated leaders who pushed those policies. Citizens checked out of the public square and watched their culture slide. We all have a responsibility to those who govern us and to the communities where our kids grow up. So, no. We are not interested in importing failed politics along with moving trucks. Real conservatives left those places a long time ago. The message I hear across the state is pretty simple. Tennessee is closed. You lost your state. That is on you. We are not losing ours.
The second, and more alarming problem, is what the Governor slipped into that video with a smile. He said the Department of Economic and Community Development would help companies that relocate. Everyone in Tennessee knows what help means in that context. It means your tax dollars. It means subsidies and incentives with fancy names that mask the same old corporate welfare. It means we pay and they clap and cut a ribbon and call it growth.
Let us slow down and ask a basic question. Is growth the ultimate good? Is more always better? Is the quality of life for our families really measured by how many press releases say “record-setting?” Since 2019, the answer from the top has been yes. And they keep spending your money to prove it.
Remember the Ford deal in 2021. A billion dollars in Tennessee funds for Blue Oval City out near Memphis. Production has been pushed back again and again. Ford also snagged billions more from Washington. What does it say about an industry that survives only because taxpayers prop it up? And here is the part that still makes people mad. One week after the state wrote the check, the company was texting legislators during a special session and pushing to weaken protections for workers. They wanted mask rules tied to plants that did not even exist here yet. After we paid them. That is how quickly your rights and values got traded for a headline.
We have seen this pattern elsewhere. Oracle got the red carpet, too. Within days, they linked arms with activists in the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce and scolded state leaders over a bathroom bill meant to protect children. Another subsidized guest in our house telling the host how to raise our kids. Same song, different verse.
Do these projects create jobs? Sure some. But count the cost. Are we so insecure that we think prosperity only arrives on an out of state letterhead? Tennesseans can build businesses without bribing multinationals that do not share our convictions. If government insists on playing investor, why does the money never seem to land on Main Street? Where is the serious capital for Tennessee-owned small businesses that actually anchor our towns? Most of what we hear about small business is a feel-good tweet once a year telling folks to shop on a Saturday. That will not cut it.
So here is where I land. If you are coming here because you are done with the mess up north then come on, but leave your politics at the state line. Tennessee is already a great place to live and work. You do not need a check from Nashville to prove it. Build from the ground up like the rest of us. And once you get here, remember there is nowhere else to run after this. We will hold the line for liberty in this state. We will defend faith, family, and freedom because that is who we are. If those values offend you, then I am going to be plain. You are not welcome here.
Tennessee is worth guarding. Our kids are worth guarding. Our way of life is worth guarding. We have been blessed with something good, and we are not going to trade it away for a press conference and a promise.
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Gary Humble
Gary Humble